Grand Prize Winner Allows Pedestrians to Find the Nearest and Best Directions to New York City Subway and PATH Stations

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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the winners of the inaugural NYC
BigApps Competition at a ceremony held at the IAC headquarters. Ten winning
applications were selected from a pool of more than 80 submissions that include
a resource for better navigating the City and its cultural resources, a guide to
New York City schools, a live-feed commentary on New York City taxis, and an
application that helps users locate books at Public Libraries. The winning teams
will receive cash prizes totaling $20,000, and Mayor Bloomberg will congratulate
them at a dinner. All awards were selected by a panel of media and technology
entrepreneurs with the exception of the “Popular Choice Award,” which was
decided by an online public vote from people around the world. The City will
hold the next competition, NYC BigApps 2.0, at the end of the year. The Mayor
was joined at the announcement by Council Member Daniel Garodnick, Council
Member Gale A. Brewer, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C.
Lieber, New York City Economic Development
Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky, Department
of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Carole
Post, IAC Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Jason Stewart,
Brandon Kessler, Founder and CEO of ChallengePost, which administered the
competition on behalf of the City and members of the winning developer
teams.

“We opened up the 170 datasets of City information to unleash the creativity
and ingenuity of New Yorkers, and we were not disappointed,” said Mayor
Bloomberg. “The apps submitted offer a range of unique capabilities, many of
which use the data in ways we hadn’t considered. We want New York City to stay
ahead of the innovation and technology curve, and we’ll continue to capitalize
on our greatest asset – New Yorkers – to make sure we do. Thank you to all of
those who submitted apps, and congratulations to the winners.”

Upon launching the competition in October 2009, the City made available more
than 170 datasets from 30 agencies and commissions that included traffic
updates, WiFi hotspots, taxi medallion and driver information, and restaurant
inspection data. Since its launch, more than 39,000 unique visitors have gone to
the competition’s web site.

Start-up and venture capital companies engaged with the City in efforts to
grow the sector expressed significant interest in utilizing City data to create
new digital applications. Through the NYC BigApps Competition, the City
increases opportunities for job growth in the sector and facilitates the
creation of applications which, in turn, increase government transparency and
accessibility for residents and visitors alike.

The winning applications are:

Best Overall Application:

Grand Prize: WayFinder NYC – an application that allows users to find the nearest and best directions to New York City
subway and New Jersey PATH stations on Android phones. It was also
selected as the Grand Prize winner for the “Data Visualization Award.” Team
members: Victor Sima and Steven Lao.

Second Prize: Taxihack – an application that allows
users to post live comments on New York City taxis and their drivers via email
(alert@taxihack.com) or Twitter (@taxihack). Users send messages to the
system, which are then posted on the appropriate pages for public viewing.
Team members:Randy Meech and Sam
Cole.

Five Honorable Mentions were also awarded for Best Overall Application
including: Actuatr, UpNext 3D NYC, Trees Near You,PushPin Web,
and NYC Way.

Investor’s Choice Awardfor the application with the
highest potential for commercialization:

NYC Way – an iPhone application that bundles more
than 30 New York City resources and provides information sorted by the user’s
current location.NYC Way was also selected as the “Popular
Choice Award” Grand Prize winner. Team members: Puneet Mehta, Archana Patchirajan, Sonpreet Bhatia,
Arun Arunachalam, Vivek Mehta, and Shariq Siddiqui.

Data Visualization Award for the most visually appealing and
user-friendly application:

WayFinder NYC

Popular Choice Awards:

Grand Prize: NYC Way

Second Prize: Bookzee – a library book search application
that allows users to enter a book title or author to find the nearest library
currently holding it. Team members: Mike Cavaliere, Veronica De la
Pena, Timothy Murry, Michael Boski, Will Schenk, and Fernando
Guillen.

City Talent Awardfor employees of the City, the New York City
Economic Development Corporation or their families:

New York Parks and Recreation Online (NYCPRO) – an
application that allows users to search for parks and recreational
opportunities in New York City by neighborhood and by certain recreational
activities. It can also be used to locate bike shops, restaurants, hospitals,
landmarks, and multi-use trails. Team members: Josh Pierro, Robin Dropkin, and Robert Murdock.

“Data wants to be free, and when we put it in the hands of innovators,
creative thinkers and everyday New Yorkers, we get valuable tools like these
winning apps,” said Council Member Garodnick, Chair of the City Council’s
Technology Committee. “Technology is a path to making government open and
accessible, and these applications show how we can make City services available
at our fingertips.”

“I applaud Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to boost government transparency and the
City's technology sector,” said Council Member Brewer. “The Big Apps Competition
successfully facilitates easier access to City information while simultaneously
promoting the development of new digital products. In New York City's pioneering
efforts to transform the way government agencies operate and interact with the
public, the BigApps Competition is an exciting way to cultivate tech
entrepreneurs, developers, and the general public alike to leverage useful
applications in daily use.”

“The wide array of applications submitted to the BigApps competition
demonstrates the talent and entrepreneurial spirit of New York's tech sector,”
said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Pinsky. “The
applications will generate millions of dollars in economic impact – a figure
that will only increase as more entrepreneurs become aware of the opportunities
available here. Through initiatives like BigApps, we are confident that New York
City will continue to cement its position as one of the world's leading centers
of innovation.”

“Today’s winners demonstrate just how innovative the
public can be in providing a new take on City information, and show what’s
possible when government data is opened to the people it serves,” said DoITT
Commissioner Post. “As an NYC BigApps judge, I’m appreciative of the creativity
and technical expertise required to develop many of the submissions, and
encouraged by the potential of these applications – and those to be developed in
future Competitions – to further benefit New Yorkers.”

“We’re excited by the efforts that the City is making to support new
media entrepreneurs,” said Jason Stewart, Chief Administrative Officer of IAC.
“New York City is full of talented workers and young tech-savvy entrepreneurs
and the NYC BigApps competition is one of many ways to help ensure that New York
City remains at the center of the evolution that is taking place in our
industry.”

“I was impressed by the number, variety, and quality of apps developed and
submitted to the NYC BigApps contest,” said Union Square Ventures Partner and
NYC BigApps Judge Fred Wilson. “When you open up data and let developers go at
it, you are going to get some serious creativity. And we sure did. I won't ride
in a taxi, look for a parking spot, find a playground, or do many other typical
urban experiences in quite the same way after adding these apps to my mobile
phone.”

In parallel with launch of the NYC BigApps Competition in October 2009,
Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications established the NYC
DataMine at www.nyc.gov/data to house supporting datasets
and information for the competition. The NYC DataMine is a revolutionary
approach to storing and representing data from dozens of City agencies in a
consolidated, cohesive and customer-friendly manner.

The City plans to add additional data sets and new formats to the NYC Data
Mine, available through nyc.gov on a rolling
basis. Eligible submissions will remain available on the BigApps website,
NYCBigApps.com
for one year, free-of-charge. That site can also be found through nyc.gov. Contestants may develop premium or
enhanced versions of the applications for commercial sale.

The NYC BigApps Competition was administered by ChallengePost, a New York
City-based start-up company that provides an online network for organizations
and individuals to create and offer competitions.

“We're thrilled to have powered NYC BigApps and to have helped deliver
a fantastic return on investment for the City,” said ChallengePost Founder
Brandon Kessler. “Several million dollars in software apps were created in
exchange for $20,000 in prize money. Everyone won, including apps developers,
City government, residents and visitors to New York
City.”